Tuesday, 18 June 2024

Southern Metropolitan Region

David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (14:17): (928) My question is for the Minister for Skills and TAFE. It concerns the ongoing militant protests at the University of Melbourne and the information that has come to hand that a hardline group, the Lions Den, a group that is a secular armed resistance group from within Gaza, is behind or is playing a very significant role in the ongoing demonstrations at the University of Melbourne. Extraordinary damage has been caused – attacks to the Baillieu library – and it is extraordinary the weakness of the University of Melbourne and, I might add, the minister in intervening on this. This organisation is listed in the US, but not in Australia, as a terrorist organisation. It is an inspiration, it appears, for some of these thugs, bullies and criminals at the University of Melbourne. I ask: will the Minister for Skills and TAFE now belatedly use her special powers under the University of Melbourne Act 2009 to intervene and restore order, finally?